21 Apr 2014

Vegas with the GH4 - Richard's GH4 Blog Continues


Despite taking the GH4 into the desert and letting Philip Bloom loose with the camera on the Strip, we’ve brought our precious kit back in one piece.

Vegas with the GH4

Despite taking the GH4 into the desert and letting Philip Bloom loose with the camera on the Strip, we’ve brought our precious kit back in one piece.

GH4 Still

First, we got to fly over the Grand Canyon, filming in 4K. The GH4 is small enough to use in a helicopter but I knew I’d have issues with vibration. Sure enough, it was a problem as I don’t have an active, gimbal-type camera support. But there’s a neat workaround. 

With all the shaking, it was hard to monitor what I was capturing. It was only when I got back to the hotel and did a quick edit that I could appreciate the images. I shot in MP4 (at a bit less than a minute per Gigabyte) and the files opened fine in Grass Valley Edius Pro. The camera also shoots MOV, which may be better for Final Cut users. Both editors have an image stabilizer built-in. When I applied it in Edius, the helicopter shots looked fantastic – real depth, great sharpness and fantastic resolution, although sometimes the vibration causes the occasional softness.

Codecs, Colour Spaces and Bits 

Until we receive our YAGH interface box, I’m shooting 4K on-board at 4:2:0. However, this format can be down-scaled and re-formatted to broadcast-approved HD in 4:2:2 or 4:4:4. Getting the nod from an HDTV technician is important, but from a real-world perspective, these enhanced colour spaces make for better keying and green screen results. 4:4:2 and 4:4:4 are also far more flexible when it comes to grading, giving you much greater latitude when it comes to re-colouring pictures. 

One thing you’re also tied to, if you record internally, is 8-bit recording. It’s certainly not the end of the world (Sony’s XDCAM HD uses an 8-bit format). By recording externally over SDI, the GH4 supports 4:2:2 10-bit 4K output. For an explanation of why this matters, take a look at Larry Jordan’s blog … As far as we’re aware, it’s currently the only mirrorless camera or DSLR that supports 10-bit workflows – including the Canon 1DC or the Sony A7S. 

Hands-on

Standing above the Grand Canyon, it was time to shoot some establishing shots. Even in the full glare of the desert sun, the viewfinder proved very easy to see. A large monitor with sun shade will always have the edge, but quite honestly I was astonished at how usable the built-in screen and viewfinder were.

Auto-focus is quite incredible. The GH4 has lots of modes – it can focus-track a particular eye (astonishingly good for low light interviews) and the ability to focus by selecting a point on the touch screen is very attractive and surprisingly effective.

Crop factors

Here’s a bit of useful detail direct from Panasonic. Each resolution has a subtly different lens crop factor: 

• HD: 2x

• 4K (4096 x 2160): 2.2x 

• UltraHD (2840 x 2160): 2.3x

We advise users that need to capture a wider angle to either use a 7-14 Lumix lens or check out the Metabones Speed Booster which reduces the crop factor (transforming it into a Super-35 format cine camera) and makes the lens faster by a stop, It’s a great piece of kit, however our 12-35 Lumix glass was wide enough for most shots. Let’s face it, it isn’t every day you need something wide enough for the Grand Canyon.

Blog Part 1

For more on the GH4, see part 1 of the blog. 

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